Honeycomb frame of a beehive

ABSTRACT

A rectangular honeycomb frame of a beehive, comprising four Tsection ribs and joint members at the ends of the ribs. The web section of the ribs is directed inwards and the frame can be assembled and disassembled at the said joint members manually without tools.

United States Patent [191 Varama Apr. 30, 1974 HONEYCOMB FRAME OF ABEEHIVE [76] Inventor: Eino Olavi Varama, Yyonkatu 7A4,

Lahti, Finland 22 Filed: Mar. 13,1973

21 Appl. No.: 340,801

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS145,502 2/1952 Australia t. 6/10 Primary Examiner--Hugh R. ChambleeAttorney, Agent, or FirmLadar, Perry, Von Gehr, Goldsmith & DeschampsABSTRACT A rectangular honeycomb frame of a beehive, comprising fourT-section ribs and joint members at the ends of the ribs. The websection of the ribs is directed inwards and the frame can be assembledand disassembled at the said joint members manually without tools.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures HONEYCOMB FRAME OF A BEEHIVE The presentinvention relates to a honeycomb frame of a beehive.

From the German Pat. No. 827,439 a honeycomb frame for a beehive isknown in which the top and bottom rib of the frame have a T-shapedsection and made of metal strip. The side ribs of the frame arerectanglesection wooden ribs, at their ends provided with slits intowhich the web section of the T-section top and bottom rib is pressed.The ribs are fastened to each other by means of nails. In such ahoneycomb frame the thick wooden ribs take a lot of space, so that theeffective surface area on which the bees can construct their cells isonly about 90 percent of the total area limited by the outer faces ofthe frame. A further disadvantage of such a honeycomb frame is that itis designed as a fixed unit, so that its storage, transport,maintenance, repair, and even its use has been difficult anduneconomical, because a broken frame that has become unsuitable for usehas, as a rule, had to be discarded and replaced by means of a newframe.

A purpose of the invention is to provide a honeycomb frame in which theeffective surface area is almost equal to the total area limited by theouter faces of the frame, i.e., about 98 percent of the total area. Thisis achieved thereby that all the ribs of the frame have a T-section,whereby the honeycomb can extend right to the flange section of theframe rib.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide a honeycomb frame thatcan, if necessary, be assembled and disassembled manually, without toolsand loose joining clips, whereby storage, transport, maintenance, andrenewal of components of the frame can be accomplished easily andeconomically.

This is achieved thereby that the honeycomb frame consists of four ribsthe ends of which are provided with joint members that allow connectingof the ribs together and disconnecting them from each other manuallywithout any tools whatsoever.

The other advantages and characteristics of the preferable embodiment ofthe honeycomb frame in accordance with the invention come out from thefollowing detailed specification, in which reference is made to theattached drawing.

FIG. 1 shows a partial side view of a collapsible honeycomb frame of abeehive in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the frame along the line II--II in FIG.1,

FIG. 3 shows a prespective view of the top end of a side rib of theframe, and

FIG. 4 shows a prespective view of one end of the top rib. 1

In the drawing the reference numeral 1 denotes the rectangular honeycombframe comprising a top rib 2 and a bottom rib 3 and two equal side ribs4. As comes out in particular from FIG. 2, the ribs have a T-section,whereby they comprise a flange section 5 forming the outside edge and aweb section 6 forming an internal support and reinforcement beam. Theweb section is somewhat shifted in relation to the center line of theflange section so that the wax base 7, on which the bees construct theircells 8, comes to lie at the middle of the flange section. The honeycombconstruction consisting of the cells 8 continues right to the flangesection 5 of the frame ribs, whereby the inner effective surface area ofthe frame is enlarged decisively as compared with the frames in use atpresent, so that the effective sur face area in the use of the frame inaccordance with the invention is about 98 percent of the total surfacearea of the frame.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a more detailed view of the joint between the ribs.The side rib 4 accommodates a thicker end 9 provided with a wedge-shapedgroove 10, into which groove a corresponding projection 1 l of the toprib 2 fits tightly. The ribs are fastened to each other so that thegroove 10 and the projection 11 are positioned on the same straightline, whereupon the projection is pushed into the groove.

By means of the present invention the frames can be made such that theycan be assembled easily without tools and loose joint clips. Ifnecessary, the support wires of the base wax can be installed throughthe holes 12 in the web section, and the base wax 7 can be securedfirmly to the web section 6 in ways in themselves known, for example bysoldering by means of molten wax. Frame ribs made of plastics or similarmaterials can be cleansed easily, for example, by means of the hot-watermethod, so that the frame is hygienic and has a long service life.

The present invention makes it possible to replace broken components ofthe frames, to store and to forward components and, in general, totransport the frame as collapsed into components, in which case itrequires only about one tenth of the storage or transport space that istaken by a frame of a rigid construction.

The frame in accordance with the invention can be used together withknown frames, because it has equal outer dimensions.

What I claim is:

1. A honeycomb frame for a beehive comprising four T-section ribs eachhaving an external flange section and an internal web section and eachalso having a cross member at each of its ends with its length at rightangles to the web section, and extending internally of the flangesections, said cross members on two of said ribs being shaped to providegrooves and said cross members on the other two of said ribs beingshaped to provide cooperating tongues, the grooves and tongues extendingalong the length of the cross members, whereby the frame can beassembled manually by inserting the tongues in corresponding grooveswith the external flange sections of the ribs located outwardly and theinternal web sections extending inwardly.

2. A honeycomb frame according to claim I in which the internal websections of said ribs are displaced with relation to the center line ofthe external flange sections, so that a wax base when placed and fixedin position is located at said center line.

1. A honeycomb frame for a beehive comprising four T-section ribs eachhaving an external flange section and an internal web section and eachalso having a cross member at each of its ends with its length at rightangles to the web section, and extending internally of the flangesections, said cross members on two of said ribs being shaped to providegrooves and said cross members on the other two of said ribs beingshaped to provide cooperating tongues, the grooves and tongues extendingalong the length of the cross members, whereby the frame can beassembled manually by inserting the tongues in corresponding grooveswith the external flange sections of the ribs located outwardly and theinternal web sections extending inwardly.
 2. A honeycomb frame accordingto claim 1 in which the internal web sections of said ribs are displacedwith relation to the center line of the external flange sections, sothat a wax base when placed and fixed in position is located at saidcenter line.